Car-coupling



(No Model.) I

' C'. F. A. NEITZEL.

GAR GOUILING.

' 10.274,645. Pai-.elim Ma1-.2'1,1aas.

C e UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL F. A. NEITZEL, OF' CONCORDIA, KANSAS.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,645, dated March 27, 1883.

' Application meaJuiy 31,1882.' (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CARL F. A. NE1TzEL,a citizen of the United States, residing at Concordia, in the` county of Cloud and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in CarCouplings; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference heinghad to the accompanyin gdrawin gs, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

'This invention pertains to an improvement in car-couplings, having forA its object to obviate the necessity'of the operator or attendant going between the cars to couple or uncouple the same, and to enable the ready coupling and uncoupling of the cars; and the invention consists of a hookw-ith-a lateral rearwardlycurved .arm pivoted in a spring-fulcrum, said curved arm adapted to be acted upon by a lever, itself acted upon by the arm of a shaft hun g so as to"be operated by a crank controlled by a ratchet and pawl, substantially as hereinaftermore fully set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is a plan view, showing the action of two meet` ing coupling-hooks. Fig. 2 is a view of a single coupling, viewing the lsame from the under side, and Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the same.

In carrying out my invention I employ a hook, A, made preferably of a straight bar, with ari ght-an gled square beak, through which is made an aperture, c, to receive an ordinary coupling-pin should it be required to use it with the common draw-bar. The couplinghook Aris cast with a lateral rearwardly-curved arm, A', the curvature of the extreme inner or rear end of said arm assuming an approxiT mate hook shape. This arm is pivotednear the inner end of the hook to a bar or fulcrum, C, with one end encircled by a spring, b, and bearing against ashoulder thereon, and a support, c, depending from the under side'of the car, and through which the said bar passes, the other end of said bar passing through and projecting beyond the front end of the buffer d. In their normal position, or when the cars and fulcrum or bar C diverge from each other, while the said end of the bar C stands a short distance inward from the beak of the hook.

D is a lever fulcrumed upon a pivot secured in a bracket, e, fastened to the under side of the bottom of the car, said lever having at one end an eye orloop, f,through which thehooked end of the coupling-hook arm A passes, said eye or loop having a frictional roll, against which the said arm bears to lessen friction. The other end of the lever slides between and gg, cast upon one side of a camarm, E, secured to a handled shaft, F, said shaft bearin g in suitable brackets, h h, fastened to the end of the car. Thisl shaft is also capable of operation at the side of the car, upon the ground, by means ofthe lever or handle Gr, and is provided with a ratchet, t, with which engages a pawl, j, fulcrumed upon a plate or support, la, fast ened to the platform or top of the car.

It will be noticed that when the cars are meeting preparatory to coupling, by turning .the hand-wheel shaft to the right, the hooks of the meeting cars will interlock or couple and the front ends of the bars C will be brought in rear of the books, preventing contact ofthe hooks with the cars, though allowed a limited play by the yielding action of the springs of said bars. At the same time the ratchet ot' the shaft F will be engaged by the pawl j, and thus cause Vthe holding of the hooks in a coupled position. To uncou ple the cars it is cba vious that it is only necessary to release the pawl j, the springs b of the bars C throwing the hooks apart and the bars C away from the hooks.

I claim and desire to secure by Letters Pat entl. In a car-coupling, the con pling-hook having an arm and the springbar, said arm being pivoted to said bar, and thence extending to the opposite side thereof and curved inwardly, in combination with mechanism to adapt the hook to interlock with the meeting hook, and to cause the bar to` adjust itself in rear of the interlocking coupling-hook, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In amar-coupling, the coupling-hook having a lateral curved arm and a springbar, said are uncoupled, the outer ends of I the hook A is acted upon by means of projections or studs Y ICO 1o with the lever, with one end acting upon the said coupling-hook arm, and its other end actuated by an arm upon the lever, which turns With the shaft of the hand-Wheel, said shaft having a ratchet engaged b v a pawl pivoted to a fixed. point, substantially as and for the 15 purpose set forth.

. CARL F. A. NEITZEL. Witnesses:

` JOHN KELLY,

W. F. COMPTON. 

